Abstract:Tong Chuin and Liu Dunzhen are representative figures of gardening research. By text reading and discourse analysis, this article attempts to grasp two authors’ compilation logic on their works of Jiangnan gardening and analyzes their theoretical presupposition of knowledge construction from the perspective of historiography and historical theory. this article summarizes their difference by using the concept of mind and principle from Confucianism. On the ontology, Tung emphasizes on literati’s dominance, while Liu canonizes the nameless craftsman; on the epistemology, Tung stresses the unity of poetry, painting and garden, whereas Liu emphasizes the spatial organization and "viewpoint-route" perspective; on methodology,Tung embodies the exchange between China and West, while Liu highlights the connection between ancient and modern; in the practice, Tung leaves some things undone, whereas Liu gets rid of the stale and brings forth the fresh.